June 11, 2009

Carnitas

Frank wanted something different than our usual ground beef tacos, he suggested using pork. I turned up a recipe for Slow Cooker Carnitas and gave it a try.

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.

Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Use cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.

The prep was easy as can be, I threw it together in the morning before work. Came home, and dinner was done. You gotta love the crockpot. The carnitas were good. We had a lot of leftovers. Fortunately, the flavor of the pork was mild enough to use in shredded BBQ pork sandwiches. After two meals, there was still enough leftover for a third so I added a packet of taco seasoning to the meat and we had pork tacos. It worked out well. This recipe is a keeper.

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